New album out in August

Nashville star Mindy Smith returns on August 11th with her fourth studio album Stupid Love – a to-the-point title for a to-the-point record that takes us on a tour through the murky world of relationships, as encapsulated on first single ‘Highs & Lows’. Written over a period of 2 years and co-produced with Ian Fitchuk and Justin Loucks (Erin McCarley, Landon Pigg), the 13 songs that made the final tracklist were whittled down from roughly 25 originals. The album features guest appearances from wife-and-husband team Amy Grant and Vince Gill (who duet on ‘Couldn’t Stand The Rain’ and ‘Telescope’, respectively), Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer (‘What Love Can Do’), and Jeremy Lister (‘What Went Wrong’, ‘True Love Of Mine’). Regular contributors Thad Cockrell and Daniel Tashian are also back in force.

Musically there are some strange goings on. Some songs feature “parts played on an iPhone”, while SoCal-style rocker ‘What Love Can Do’ has Mindy playing a beer bottle. “There was a lot of exploring and experimentation,” says Mindy. More traditional instruments are in there too, with banjo, slide guitar and strings. Sixpence None The Richer’s Matt Slocum dropped by to work some magic on the cello. The bulk of the instrumentation, though, was handled by Fitchuk and Loucks, with Mindy freed up to concentrate mainly on her vocals. “It is really important to me for every vocal to be as good as it can be,” she says, and the new songs required some new ways of singing. “There were a lot of parts that required big, long breaths,” she admits.

Stupid Love is already getting attention from US TV shows. Adding to her previous appearances on ‘Smallville’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Six Feet Under’, an early version of new song ‘Love Lost’ was aired last September on ‘Army Wives’, and the same show will premiere album track ‘Bad Guy’ on Sunday. Although the final running order has yet to be revealed, other songs include ‘I’m Disappointed’ and rollicking closer ‘Take A Holiday’.